Disclaimer: This story contains characters and situations copyright Capcom, used without permission but not for profit.

On the strength of one link in the cable
dependeth the might of the chain
Who knows when thou may'st be tested?
So live that thou bearest the strain!

-Captain Hopwood, RN, "The Laws of the Navy"

Blue and red robots rested in the small room.

"Rested" in this case is a matter of degree. The blue robot was busy working with a computer, a seemingly-permanent look of concern etching lines on his face. The red robot never relaxed, never fully. But they weren't in combat, and by the standards of Zero and Mega Man X, that constituted resting.

X glanced up from his work. He had to wonder if "act like a badass" was a programmed directive for Zero, or if his counterpart worked at it. Zero was leaning back against the wall. His arms were crossed, his head was down, and his eyes were closed. One leg was idly propped up, a large tread-foot pressed against the wall. It looked like it might have been relaxing, but X knew that was deceptive. Zero's situational awareness was absolute. Anyone who raised a weapon in his direction would find themselves eating a beam saber before they could complete the motion.

X leaned back in his chair and gave his eyes a brief rub. He looked at his friend with a smile. "Bored?" he asked.

Zero's eyes opened, focused with their characteristic sharpness. "A little," Zero said. "There have been Maverick incidents the past few weeks, but nothing the patrols can't handle. Most of the Maverick energy was expended in the Second War."

"And most of the Mavericks," X added. "That's usually been your cue to go out on patrol as often as possible."

"I do," Zero said. "I pull almost twice as many shifts as you do."

"And you're still bored? Hm… is all your squad leader's paperwork is caught up?"

Zero blinked at that.

X felt a fleeting sense of pity for Zero's assistant squad leader. Poor Rekir deserved a better fate than this. "And you do your usual training regimen, I guess?"

"Of course. I clear all five Class-A exercises at least once a week."

"You know," X said, growing interested, "I imagine your scores get better at that each time, as you get used to them, right?"

"Not exactly," Zero said. "There's such a thing as a perfect performance, in theory. But natural variation keeps you from quite getting there. Random stuff—even I don't get perfect shots every time. I get close, though."

"What's the point of doing it, then?" X asked. "You know everything that's going to happen. It's not a challenge anymore."

"Sure it is," Zero said. "Things are challenging in different ways. Even if you know exactly what a foe is going to do, if you make it fast enough and strong enough it's still tough to beat. Knowing what to do is only the beginning—you still have to do it."

"That must be the difference between you and me," X replied. "You've always been able to be technically perfect and just overpower your foes. You want challenges that test your own perfection. I've never been able to count on being stronger than the other guy, so I've had to be able to out-think them. I want challenges that stretch my imagination."

Zero grunted. "I guess that's why I never see you in the simulator. The simulator's good, and it has some variance built-in, but after a few runs you can start to see its patterns."

X's eyes narrowed slightly. A hand went to his face, where a single finger extended up his jawline, tapping gently. A narrow smile was beginning to form on his face.

Zero's face grew concerned. He knew that look. "What are you plotting, X?"

The smile blossomed more fully. "I think," X said, "we've been underselling what the simulator can give us. Sure, the simulator's enemies only do what they're told, what they're programmed to do. But the simulator can also give an environment in which the most creative, dangerous enemies can fight."

Zero's eyes narrowed. "Like who?"

"Us."

Zero frowned. "We already spar from time to time, when you let me convince you. What's the point of moving that into the simulator?"

"This isn't just about us," X said. "We're not the only Hunters that need training."

Zero's expression went blank.

"You have a squad you're responsible for, remember?"

"…oh, right."

"And there are always the rookies," X said. "Especially the purpose-built ones, the ones who need to be shown…" he smiled. "Zero, I know it might not be much of a challenge, but I'd like to borrow you."

Zero blinked.

"It'll keep you from being bored."

"…fine."

"Is this really happening?"

The words came from a giddy-looking rookie Hunter who was telling anyone who'd listen that his name was Durand. He was mostly humanoid, although he had an unusual ridge down his spine. His words seemed to expand to fill the small chamber the eight Hunters were crowded into. "This is going to be great! We get to prove ourselves to the rest of the Hunters!"

"You really think that's what this is about?" said Altern. He was a smaller, slimmer model than the other more rugged reploids in the room, with dexterous fingers and extra facial articulation. His base design was all but unarmored, so today he was wearing external armor attachments.

Durand noticed. "What would you know?" he shot back. "You're not even a combat reploid."

Altern shifted uncomfortably. "Every reploid's a combat reploid if it decides to fight," he replied. "I think the Maverick Wars have made that clear."

A feraloid with a reptilian aspect and a huge build snorted at that. Gray armor, patterned like scales, rippled as he flexed slightly in the enclosed space. "I think you just proved Durand's point," said Kombat Komodo. "You have something to prove, at least. You're insecure that you weren't built as a Hunter, aren't you?"

Altern pursed his lips. "Maybe a little, fine, but that's not why we were picked for this. There's one thing we have in common despite being in different squads. All eight of us are unblooded. We're as green as it gets."

"I know!" said Durand. "That's why I'm saying that they're giving us a chance to prove ourselves."

Altern frowned. "Have you ever seen X or Zero fight?"

"Nah, I've just seen X talk," Durand said.

"Ditto," Kombat said.

"Then how do you know this is about proving yourself?" Altern said. "How do you know you've even got a chance?"

"What are you talking about? Of course we've got a chance, especially eight-to-one."

Altern's face was reminiscent of a basset hound. "Have you talked to some of the older Hunters? Have you ever heard them talk about him? They call Zero the Red Demon. Stay behind him, they say, and there's no safer place to be. But never be in front of him—either as an enemy, or between him and the enemy, or you're dead."

"Ha-a-a-a!" said another voice. A second feraloid, who boasted curved horns over the top of his head and self-identified as Rocky, was apparently laughing. "They gotcha good, didn't they? It's the usual thing. My squad played their jokes on me, too. My first day, they told me that I had to help them fill out all their aye-dee-ten-tee forms. I must have wandered through Hunter Base for an hour, asking for aye-dee-ten-tee forms, before someone took pity on me."

Durand frowned. "Their…"

Rocky grinned. "Spell it out."

"Aye… dee… oh."

Another Hunter pitched in, "My squad had me looking on the different calendars to find the dates when Mavericks were in-season for hunting."

"My squad started singing," Kombat said. "Some old guitar piece. 'For those about to die, we sa-lute you!' And then they all saluted me, in case I'd missed the point."

"Well, it's not like Hunters have a long life expectancy," Altern said morosely. "Maybe that's the point they're trying to prove here."

"What are you griping about now?" Durand said.

"Half of all Hunters don't survive their first six months," he said.

"Come on, start thinking!" said Kombat. "Those numbers are thrown all out of whack by the fact that the Second War followed within six months of the First. And they count the first Hunters that were underpowered and had no idea what they were doing. We're better than that."

"If that's so," Altern said morbidly, "then why did they have to build you guys?"

"Upgrades!" chipped in Durand. "The next generation! We're better than the old guys who got bumped off. If Zero's the Red Demon, call me The Exorcist!"

"I think he'd like to hear that," said a voice in dry tones. All eight rookies turned their heads.

It was X, sliding through the door. The expression on his eternally-youthful face was somehow both kindly and serious. "Though I'd concentrate on fighting instead of moniker-making, if it were me," he added.

His entrance sent the room into silence. He was used to this. It also sent all eight Hunters into different ways of thinking about him. He was also used to that. He was starting to understand that he had a reputation outside of the Hunters, though he didn't grasp its dimensions. He also knew he had a reputation inside the Hunters, at least amongst those who'd seen him in action.

But reputations are complex things. Wrapped inside the tales of his prowess were acknowledgements of his age, of the amount of damage he routinely sustained in the course of limiting the damage others took, of his penchant for going silent when even the corniest speech would have been triumphant. Then there was the fact that he didn't look particularly legendary or heroic. Even with his helmet on, which it wasn't, he was a little on the short side. His face was, in many ways, generic, to let him blend in. Altogether, the result was a lot of cognitive dissonance.

There was, X admitted, some practical value in Zero's posturing. Maybe he could give X a lesson or two in badass.

"We haven't done anything like this before," X said. "We're curious to see how it turns out. We have some ideas, but this is as much an experiment for us as it is for you."

He could see the rookies becoming uncomfortable. Oops. He shouldn't have led that way. Mentally berating himself, he moved on. "But there's a very good reason for doing this," he continued. "There are some really, really strong Mavericks out there. Strong enough to take on entire squads. We need to teach you how to recognize and fight bad guys that strong. The first step in doing that…" and he actually smiled at this. "…is to prove to you that they exist."

He watched their reactions. Durand, in particular, seemed skeptical; Altern's face drooped until X was afraid it would fall from his skull. No matter. They'd learn.

Zero would see to that.

Fighting off the urge to grin, X said, "As you know, we usually move in groups of four. I encourage you to organize yourselves the same way, but if you choose to do otherwise, well, I can't really stop you. We'll call it part of the experiment. Your target is in there." He gestured to the door opposite the one he'd come through. "He has taken a hostage. Your goal is to defeat him and recover the hostage. The simulated environment is urban—the interior of a building. We'll be sending four of you in, then the next four after a two minute gap."

"Why's that?" asked Kombat. After a short pause, he added, "Sir?"

"When we respond to Maverick incidents, it's rare for multiple squads to get to the scene simultaneously," X replied, "and the situation sometimes develops too quickly to wait for backup."

Kombat nodded, unsatisfied.

"The simulator will handle the effects of your weapons," X went on. "It'll resolve damage to the environment as best as it can. Hits on you—or your target, if you manage that—will resolve like the old paintball guns. You'll feel a shove from the point of impact, and you'll appear to change color where you were hit. A green impact splatter is superficial. Yellow is internal damage. Red is destructive. You take red to a limb, the limb is gone. You take red to the torso or head, you're down for the count. Oh, and don't try to cheat the system and play on after you go red. If you do, your opponent will decide to disable you in more…" X paused, as if waiting for his thesaurus to find the right word. "…immediate ways."

Altern raised a hand. "Yes?" said X, pointing to him.

"You're not going to restrain him, are you?" Altern said. "He's not pulling his punches, is he?"

"Zero's… I mean, your opponent's attacks will be resolved the same as yours," he said. "But if you're asking if your opponent will try for anything less than total victory, the answer's no. He'll try to beat you as quickly and completely as he can."

Altern's shoulders slumped. "I was afraid you'd say that."

The rookie's face made X feel a brief surge of guilt. It wasn't fair, was it? Sending lambs to the slaughter. Sure, it would be funny, but he shouldn't really be enjoying this, not when it might very well ruin their confidence for good.

"Fine, then, Altern," said Durand. "Stay back and let us show you how it's done! This'll be fun!"

X forgave himself.

"Good luck," he said, and exited the room before his smile escaped.

Zero looked at a camera in the corner of the room. "You said I wouldn't be bored," he said, hoping X was on the other end. No reply came, which was expected in a dreary way.

Combat was fun. Combat made him feel like he was doing what he was supposed to do. Combat against weaklings, though… it was better than no combat, but not much.

"P-p-please don't hurt me!" muttered the hologram in his grip. Zero faced it with a laser-like stare; it quailed before him.

"You're not real," he told it. He looked to the camera again. "We started, right?"

They were out there, he sensed suddenly. They were coming.

Zero's never-dormant combat subroutines roared to the fore of his mind. Before the simulator could make the hostage react, Zero brought his powered-down saber through its false body. Illusory blood gurgled to the hostage's lips. "But… why?" it croaked.

"You'd slow me down," he said briefly. He let it fall; it dissipated into nothingness. He hated being tied down protecting something that didn't deserve him. Now he was free to fight at something approaching full power. Free to fight how he wanted.

He would not be passive in this. With a flurry of blonde hair, he moved.

The door appeared to be that of a stairwell; to the rookie Hunters' eyes, they were coming out of the stairs into an office building. The hall split off left and right. Ahead of them was a glass-enclosed maze of cloth partitions, extending many meters across to large glass windows. The entrance to the cubicle-space was down the hall to the right. The left hallway had doors to either side before going around a corner out of sight.

The four rookies, weapons at the ready, slow-walked into the hall. Most kept their eyes scanning the cubicle swamp.

"Let's get him!" said Durand.

"And where is he to 'get'?" Altern mumbled. "He could be anywhere. He could be behind one of those doors, he could be somewhere in that open office area, ducking low to stay out of sight…"

"No way," said Rocky. "He ha-a-as a hostage, right? He ha-a-as to be in a place where he can ha-a-ave the hostage too."

"That's seriously annoying," Kombat said to Rocky.

"Tell me about it," Rocky agreed. "If I could turn it off, I would."

"We'll flush him out, then," said Durand, undeterred. "Two of us go in, two of us stay in this hallway to cover. We can see all the way to the end, right? If he stands, we might see him, and if he jumps we definitely do." He grinned. "I'll be bait for this. Kombat, you wanna come with?"

"Sure," rumbled the larger Hunter. The two started walking down the hall to the right, headed for the door.

Nothing inside the office space moved. The only sound was the heavy footfalls of the Hunters as they made their way to the door. Durand pointed his weapon at something he thought—no, a trick of the eyes. Too much tension. Zero wasn't supernatural and his weapons required line of sight, so he needed to see them to target them. If he could see them, they could see him.

"All we need to do is get him to reveal his position," Durand said heavily. "Do that and we'll overpower him."

"That's the idea," Kombat replied.

"Okay. I'll get the door." He glanced back down the hallway at the other members of their foursome. Altern and Rocky were still looking down the barrels of their busters, still alertly scanning the maze for any signs of the enemy. This wasn't going to get better.

Was this nervousness? Had to be. There was nothing for it, he decided, but to plunge forward. He put a hand forward and pushed the door open.

A surge of red out of the corner of his eye. Before he could turn, two shots impacted his chest, pushing him back. He glanced down—red. Grumbling, he sat himself down.

What had just happened? He tried to figure it out as Kombat stormed into the room, roaring at nothing. "Why'd you guys not shoot him?" Kombat hollered.

"Shoot what?" Rocky replied. "We never saw him!"

Durand looked. The shots must have come from… there. Yes, it was a part of the maze that wasn't visible from the hall. It only just had line of sight to the door. Zero hadn't been there when they opened the door, he was sure. How did he know? How had he been able to pop into sight at the exact right time to shoot them? And how had his shots been so perfect with next-to-no targeting data?

Kombat stormed after Zero's last known location. Durand saw what was coming entirely too late. "Kombat, wait!" he said, forgetting the rules for a moment.

It didn't matter; Kombat didn't hear him, not through the glass cutting off the office space. The tall reploid was visible over the edges of any of the cubicles, which helped him see, but it also meant he could be seen more easily.

As Durand watched, Kombat whirled and snapped a shot off. He ran down an alley of cubicles. Only his head was visible from the hallway; Rocky and Altern watched, intently but helplessly.

Then a white hand came from an unexpected angle, grabbed the front of Kombat's face as he tried to move forward, and yanked. The rookie Hunter disappeared from view with a yelp. The last they saw of him were two frantically flailing feet—and then they were gone.

Silence returned.

"Like they were nothing," Rocky murmured. "What are we doing? He's got every advantage in there, doesn't he?"

"We're not following him," Altern said. "We're staying right here until the second team arrives."

"What about the hostage?" said Rocky.

"The bad guy's wandering around in there, you think he's doing it with a hostage in tow?" Altern asked. "He's either stashed the hostage or killed it, and either way there's no rush. We need to hold here until…"

Both of them focused on the new round of weapons fire. As they watched, plasma bolts began impacting against a wall to the left of the cubicle swamp.

"Hey, Rocky," Altern called over the din, "think that fronts onto the hallway?"

"Probably," said Rocky.

Then, in a blur, leading with his saber, Zero erupted from inside the cubicle maze. The wall disappeared before him, and he was out. It happened so fast that, even knowing Zero was going to be there, neither Hunter had time enough to pull a trigger before he vanished.

"Come on!" shouted Rocky. The two Hunters ran down the left part of the hallway in time to see Zero opening a door. For a split second, they ran for him as he stood still, almost long enough for Altern to limber his buster for a shot. Then the red robot was inside and out of sight.

His appearance galvanized the Hunters. They thundered down the hall after him.

"We've got him now!" Rocky shouted. "We just keep him in there—barricade the door—wait for backup—"

The two Hunters were about two-thirds of the way to the door when Altern realized they should have known better.

The source of his realization was Zero blowing through the wall.

They'd seen him do it once before, after all, but there was still no time to react. He appeared between the two Hunters who were still running full-tilt down the hallway. There was no chance for Altern to pull up. Zero grabbed him and redirected his motion. The world spun around, and when it stopped, Altern was skidding down the hall on his back, processing interrupted by the hard blow. Before he could think to aim, before Rocky could collect himself, Zero was standing between them. He dealt them each a stern smack with a low-power beam saber.

"You're dead," he said coolly.

"No kidding," Rocky shot back.

"The dead don't talk," said Zero, eyes narrowing.

Rocky glared, but said nothing.

Zero shook his head. "Honestly, X. What were you thinking?" Replacing his beam saber, he walked away from his kills. He paid them no more mind.

Altern sighed. "I think that was as bad a diss as killing us so easily."

"How did he know where to punch through the wall?" Rocky said.

"Probably guessed our speed before he ducked inside the room," Altern replied. "We were pretty dumb. Hadn't we just decided to wait? But one glimpse of the bad guy and it was all, 'Get him!'"

"We've gotta do better than that," Rocky said. "I want another shot at him."

Zero's head appeared around the corner and gave them a harsh look. They fell silent. He withdrew.

"Scary," whispered Altern.

Zero decided that had taken entirely too long. Thinking about it, he knew the rest of the rookies had to be on a timer to arrive, as they hadn't come in automatically as replacements. Good. He could prepare more aggressively then.

When the door opened, the four remaining Hunters emerged, leading with their busters, just as the last squad did. They scanned left and right. None scanned behind.

Which was too bad, as Zero was pressed against the wall, behind and above the door, his feet having smashed his own footholds. When he detached, the first Hunter had barely a moment to feel fear before the end. "Help!" he squeaked.

"Nope," said Zero.

The saber flashed.

Eight disgruntled rookies sat in the debriefing room.

X's appearance gave them the opportunity to start complaining.

"…wasn't fair…"

"…took advantage of the rules…"

"…stupid scenario…"

"…killed the hostage…"

"…cheated…"

X held up a hand. When that didn't work, he held up both and said, "That's enough!"

The whining died down. X waved for the door, and Zero walked in. He settled against the wall next to and behind X.

"Before you say anything about the scenario," X said, "I based it off of an actual Hunt. The only change was using Zero as your enemy."

"He cheated," one of the rookies mumbled.

X's face was cross; Zero looked amused. "What would we be proving if we rigged the scenario?"

"He knew when I came through the door," Durand said. "He shouldn't have been able to see me."

"I couldn't see you," Zero said. "I was watching the door. It's taller than you, so I could see it while hiding from your eyes. When the door opened, I knew you were in the doorway. That was an easy shot. You should have come through the walls instead."

"You knew where we were in the hallway," Rocky said.

"That was easy math," Zero said. "I saw you coming down the hallway, guessed your speed, and came through the wall at where I knew you'd be. I was a little off. I'd intended to be behind the second one, but I came through between you instead. It worked out, though."

"You jumped us right out of the door!" another complained.

"And?" Zero said.

No one knew what to say about that.

X shook his head. "Nothing that we did is outside what a Maverick could do if you found one in the field. You won't have the luxury of complaining about cheating, then. No one will be listening. The dead can't speak."

He sighed, and for a moment a sense of his age came over the rookies. "I've seen too many friends die. I want each of you to live. That's why I'm doing this. I need to teach each of you how to survive out there."

"You're saying we couldn't survive out there?" challenged Durand.

"I'm saying you'd be dead against front-line Mavericks," X said evenly.

The room was quiet for a moment. Then Kombat spoke up. "So maybe Zero beat us," he said, "but he beat us with the environment. He didn't beat us straight-up."

X cocked his head. "Are you ever going to be fighting in a place where the environment isn't a factor? If you have nothing but a wall, you have an environment you can use. A slope in the ground. A piece of machinery. And if you think the Mavericks don't know this, too, you're crazy."

"I still think we could beat him in open combat," Kombat said.

X covered his face in his palm; Zero smirked. "What do you think, X?" said Zero. "Should we let them try?"

X looked over his shoulder to Zero. "I thought your reputation meant more than this."

"They haven't been exposed to it long enough," Zero replied. "I bet yours is even weaker."

"Don't give them ideas," X said, but it was too late.

"Yeah, aren't people always saying that X is too soft?" said Rocky. "And that he doesn't even like fighting?"

"He hasn't been in the Hunters as long as Zero," said Kombat. "He's got less experience."

"And he wasn't built for combat like we were. I bet we can take him!" said Durand.

X looked daggers at Zero. Zero returned a grin. "This was your idea," Zero told him. "You've got no one to blame but yourself."

"Fine," X said with a huff. "You want a shot at me? We'll make that happen. Same scenario. Let's see if you've learned anything."

He walked out. Zero's smile got bigger. "You guys are morons," he said when the door was shut. "If you're wise, you fear one thing: the wrath of a gentle man."

The simulator antechamber was as packed as before. Zero restrained a yawn. "So, I'm not going to bother going over the scenario," he said. "You know it already. You'll probably ignore this, but if you don't give X the same respect you'd give me, you've already lost."

He could see the rookies chewing on this statement. He could see them comparing him against X in their heads. "What, that guy?" said Rocky, as if there was some confusion. "You're saying he's on your level?"

"I'm a better design, but he beat me head-to-head," Zero said. "I lead our sparring series, but not by much, and he won when it counted. He thinks completely differently than I do. In fact, I'm feeling generous, so here's a tip. He actually cares about people's lives, so he won't just kill the hostage outright like I did. That's a small handicap for him. But frankly," he shook his head, "I don't think it'll make much difference. You guys are toast."

"Hey, hey!" said Durand. "We're better than that."

Zero fixed him with an intense gaze, looked the reploid up and down. Durand shivered under that scrutiny. "No," Zero said definitely. "You're not."

He opened the door to the simulator and waved them good-bye.

After the last ambush, the four rookies were very cautious in coming out of the gate. They led with their busters and covered all the different angles as they came through the door. They spent several seconds standing and searching, ensuring they weren't about to be bushwhacked. Eventually Durand lowered his buster. "Well, that's a relief," he said. "Woulda been embarrassing to lose after ten seconds."

"We can hear you, you know!" called one of the other rookies from inside the anteroom. Durand shrugged sheepishly.

"What now?" Kombat said. "Zero said X won't kill his hostage, so he's not gonna pull the same sort of nonsense that Zero did."

"We need to narrow down where he could be," Altern said. "If you think about it, that cubicle space is a huge unknown. It's hard to clear the whole thing. But the rooms down the left hall? We can check those one at a time. They're all one-in, one-out. And unless he punches through the wall, too, he can't go from the cubicles to the hall. But we'd hear that, if he did. So we can close down on him if we clear the hall first."

"Good plan," said Rocky. "You wanna come with me and handle that?"

"Durand and I will keep an eye out for him here," Kombat said.

"Don't volunteer me like that!" Durand said. He turned to Rocky. "Kombat and I will stay here while you clear the hall." Kombat rolled his eyes.

"C'mon, Altern," said Rocky. Altern's face was creased with a frown, but he acquiesced. The two Hunters took the left hall. At the first door they came to, they stopped. "We'll take turns," he said. "For this one, I'll open the door, you cover. Next one you'll open."

"Sure," Altern said, taking position along the door. They'd been taught how to do this, at least. With one Hunter at each side of the doorframe, busters leading, Rocky palmed the door knob and kicked the door open. They swept their gazes across the room quickly, but saw nothing. There was a single desk in that room, along with sundry furniture and cabinets. Rocky gestured to it; Altern nodded in understanding. The desk was plenty big enough to hide behind, especially for the diminutive X.

The two Hunters advanced cautiously, each taking one side of the desk. Their approach took them wide. It was a very cautious advance that exposed them only gradually. More and more of the desk came into view—and they rendezvoused behind it. No one was hiding. The room was empty.

Rocky lowered his buster with relief. "One room down," he said. Altern nodded. The two Hunters retreated out of the room. The next one was further down the hall, past the corner that would take them away from their allies.

"Don't forget to write!" hollered Durand. Altern rolled his eyes.

The pattern soon repeated itself. Although each room was different in layout and contents, they all had one similarity: they were devoid of X.

"Last one," said Altern. Rocky nodded in agreement. He spun the door knob, kicked the door open, and the two Hunters leaned in with busters.

"Don't shoot!" was the sound that assaulted them. It froze them long enough to blink. It was a minor amazement that nothing bad happened in that blink. Both Hunters had their busters trained on the source of the sound, and when there was space enough to think, they took in the sight.

X was standing behind his hostage, whom he had in a loose grip about the waist. X's short stature made it easy for him to hide. His face, half-concealed behind the hostage, was almost as frightened as the blubbering uselessness that was the simulated human.

"Don't move," said Altern, sliding his finger off of his buster's trigger.

"I won't," said X. "Don't be rash. I don't want to hurt my hostage, I didn't realize what I was getting into, just… we can talk about this, right?"

Altern and Rocky shared a glance. This seemed, sort-of, like the rumors they'd heard, though it was a bit more… extreme than they'd expected.

"I don't really want to fight like this," X said. "I'm worried my hostage will get hurt in the crossfire. Will you escort him out of here? I promise that I'll stay here while you do."

Another glance. Was this what Zero had meant? That X's care for other people would handicap him?

Well, it was their directive to protect the innocent, so… Altern lowered his buster to his hip. "Alright," he said. "Release the hostage to me, and we'll make sure he gets out safely."

"Sure thing." X moved the hostage forward somewhat without releasing his grip. "Watch your buster," he said to Altern. "This guy's scared out of his mind, you might have to manhandle him." Altern nodded, lowered his weapon, and spread his arms.

That's when X gave the hostage a shove.

Directly at Rocky.

The feraloid's arms jerked wide to try and catch the hostage, carrying his buster away from his body. While the weapon was out of line, a low-grade X-buster shot hit it and turned it red.

Altern's eyes went wide and he tried to bring his buster around. Before he could, X stepped in and snap-kicked it cleanly out of his hands. A shuffling step backwards took X back out of melee range. He lifted his arm. The emitter to his buster was clearly visible.

The Hunters had mental whiplash. They didn't feel like much had happened, but there was no doubt that they were completely beaten.

X's lips formed into a tight smile. "Now I have three hostages," he said.

"They've been gone a long time," Kombat said.

"Yeah," Durand said. "I told you that was a buster shot we heard, and you didn't believe me. Come on. If they're still in the hallway, we should see them."

"What if he's still in the cubicle swamp?" Kombat asked.

"If he hasn't moved by now, he ain't gonna," Durand said. "Let's go."

The two rookies went around the corner to find their fellows. Every door was closed. The one at the end of the hall looked… different. As they closed in, they heard a banging sound coming from it.

"Who's there?" said Durand, buster ready.

"It's Altern," came from the voice inside. "He caught us. Got us good. But then he left."

"What?" said Kombat. "You mean he trusted you to just stay put?" They'd heard of X's gullible, too-trusting nature, but this was a bit much.

"No, he sealed us in."

"How?"

"Some sort of crystal," said Durand, looking at the space between doorjam and door. "It's all locked in place."

"We've got the hostage in here, too," Rocky said. "Bust us out and we'll get him away."

"Perfect," said Durand. He leveled his buster. "That crystal doesn't look that thick. A few shots should bust it up. Kombat, take the top."

"Sure." Each fired a shot, then another, blasting away chunks of crystal and wood alike. "Now let's try," he said.

The door opened easily. Altern came into sight—and then his eyes widened.

"Don't move."

The voice came from earlier in the hallway, where X was leaning out the door of the bathroom. His buster arm was aimed at the backs of the would-be rescuers. "Drop your busters," he said. The rookies reluctantly complied.

"You weren't careful," he said. "I heard your busters firing." His smile this time was broad. "Now I have five hostages."

Zero shook his head. "You didn't kill a single one of them. You managed to take all eight without hurting them."

"I didn't want to hurt them more than I needed to, even in the simulator," X replied.

"Although it did take you almost three times as long to win your match as it took me to win mine." Zero looked suddenly thoughtful. "You know, nine hostages are a lot harder to deal with than one."

"Not when they're disarmed and feeling defeated. Their minds were off."

Zero huffed. "Now you're just showing off."

"You think so?" X looked stricken at the thought.

"You know how much harder it is to beat someone without killing them, right? We always make that point, it's one of the reasons the Hunters are authorized to terminate Mavericks. Taking them all like that? You'll need a microscope to find what's left of their egos."

X squirmed. "That was sort of the point, but when you say it like that, it's not nearly as funny."

Zero grinned. "How about we talk to them again? It might make you feel better."

"Well, we need to, anyway," X said. "First, though, we need to decide where we go from here. What should we do now? The different squads all have their own training regimens, but I don't want to give these rookies back as broken product."

"We still have simulator time, right?" said Zero. "Just have them fight each other. That way one of them has to win. Or you can send them in against one of the lower-level exercises. A C, maybe, or a strong D."

X didn't answer immediately. His mouth was curling into a smile.

"Not again," Zero moaned. "What are you thinking now?"

"Nothing bad," X said. "We wouldn't want you to get bored, after all. In fact, I promise this will be much more exciting!"

"Don't make me hate exciting," Zero warned.

Next week: Round Three